Quick Hits: Volume CCCXXII

 - President Joe Biden finally made the trek to Maui to see firsthand the horrific damage caused by out-of-control wildfires. The death toll continues to rise while there are also hundreds of people deemed "missing."

For literal days after the disaster in Maui began, Biden couldn't even muster a comment (he literally said "No. No comment" when asked about it while on a beach vacation), extend the obligatory "thoughts and prayers," etc. For someone who allegedly has the reputation of exuding compassion and empathy, this was pretty shocking behavior. Sadly, Biden's tone-deafness was on full display once he actually arrived in Maui, an appearance where he once again invoked personal (and false) anecdotes. 

Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review is beginning to suspect that Biden possessing empathy is actually an urban myth. 

For Biden, this was par for the course. After 13 service members were killed in Afghanistan — largely as a result of his own appalling lack of planning — Biden told the families that his son died in Iraq and was brought home in a “flag-draped coffin.” This was not merely inappropriate; it wasn’t true. On Memorial Day this year, Biden, asked to honor those who had died for their country, skipped merrily past that peskily narrow theme and discussed Beau again. Sure, Biden conceded, his son “didn’t perish in the battlefield.” But what’s that small detail on a day explicitly dedicated to the memories of those who did?

Fabricating anecdotes is explained away (even justified) by Biden aides and confidantes as his way of trying to appear more relatable to the common folk who would otherwise be intimidated while in the presence of the leader of the free world. But in no normal society does that fall under the definition of "compassionate." 

- The city of Minneapolis has experienced two different "mass shootings" within the past week-and-a-half. The city's Mayor weighed in via Facebook. 

Is it just me, or does that statement sound like it was delivered by a high schooler running for class president? 

I digress. 

Anyhow, Mayor Frey must be mistaken. I've been reliably informed that gun legislation signed by Nebraska Fats Gov. Tim Walz a few months back was supposed to prevent such incidents. Maybe Mayor Frey oughta check his sources on this one. 

- With the first GOP presidential debates slated to take place on Wednesday, one specific candidate will be conspicuous by his absence. 

I'll concede that there really is no mystery left to Trump. He has close to 100% name recognition among the electorate and plenty of those people have opinions on his record as a one-term POTUS. From that standpoint, his appearing at a debate for Republican primary voters to "get to know him" is a waste of time. 

That said, Trump should still appear to offer clarifications about the campaign promises he's making now that he also made in 2016 but never followed through on. Remember "lock her up?" 

Despite his 2016 campaign promise to prosecute Hillary Clinton, Trump chose to "help her heal" instead of healing the rule of law.

Draining the swamp and locking her up? "That plays great before the election," he explained. "Now we don't care, right?" pic.twitter.com/6PKFtrxui9

— Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) August 22, 2023

Oh, and I'm certain many of Trump's opponents would like to press him on his acquiescing to Dr. Anthony Fauci in shutting down the American economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since he can't coherently defend that decisions, he resorts to his go-to strategy: gaslighting. 

There's also this little matter of Trump having lost in 2020 due in large part to woefully underperforming with independent voters as well as motivating record voter turnout to vote against him. Whenever he is asked about how he'll draw in new voters, his only retort is to cling to the fantasy that he did have the votes to win in '20, they were just stolen, deleted, overturned, etc. 

Once again, delusion appears to be Trump's strategy for the general election (Spoiler alert: it won't end well for him. Or our country). 

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